{"title":"Bivalves as climate-friendly high quality animal protein: a comprehensive review","authors":"Hong Zhang, Kit-Leong Cheong, Karsoon Tan","doi":"10.1007/s12571-025-01530-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The demand for animal protein has increased dramatically as a result of population growth and rising incomes in some segments of society. One of the main issues associated with animal protein production (APP) is the significant amount of green-house gas (GHG) emissions. Replacing proteins from terrestrial animals that generate a high carbon footprint with proteins from aquatic animals that associated with a low carbon footprint may mitigate, or even reverse, climate change. Bivalves are known to be climate-friendly sources of animal proteins with very high nutritional quality. Despite the number of reports dealing with the carbon footprint of bivalve proteins, the information is not well organized. This reviews offers a synthesis on the impact of bivalve aquaculture on GHG emissions. Many studies have assessed the carbon sequestration potential of bivalves based solely on their respiration and the calcification process, which controversial results, because bio-calcification is highly influenced by the buffering capacity of carbonate systems in their natural habitats. Taking into account the ecosystem implications of bivalve aquaculture, the contribution of bivalve APP to carbon sinks appears to be substantial, mainly by promoting sedimentation of organic carbon for long term storage in seabed and by enhancing primary productivity through the nutrient cycles. The review also discusses other bivalve aquaculture-related components that are often overlooked (i.e., on-farm processing, post-harvest, and ultimate fate of shells). This review generates suggestions for minimizing GHG emissions. This review helps assessing the current state of research and identifying research directions for bivalve APP in slowing or even reversing climate change.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":567,"journal":{"name":"Food Security","volume":"17 3","pages":"739 - 748"},"PeriodicalIF":5.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12571-025-01530-y.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Food Security","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-025-01530-y","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The demand for animal protein has increased dramatically as a result of population growth and rising incomes in some segments of society. One of the main issues associated with animal protein production (APP) is the significant amount of green-house gas (GHG) emissions. Replacing proteins from terrestrial animals that generate a high carbon footprint with proteins from aquatic animals that associated with a low carbon footprint may mitigate, or even reverse, climate change. Bivalves are known to be climate-friendly sources of animal proteins with very high nutritional quality. Despite the number of reports dealing with the carbon footprint of bivalve proteins, the information is not well organized. This reviews offers a synthesis on the impact of bivalve aquaculture on GHG emissions. Many studies have assessed the carbon sequestration potential of bivalves based solely on their respiration and the calcification process, which controversial results, because bio-calcification is highly influenced by the buffering capacity of carbonate systems in their natural habitats. Taking into account the ecosystem implications of bivalve aquaculture, the contribution of bivalve APP to carbon sinks appears to be substantial, mainly by promoting sedimentation of organic carbon for long term storage in seabed and by enhancing primary productivity through the nutrient cycles. The review also discusses other bivalve aquaculture-related components that are often overlooked (i.e., on-farm processing, post-harvest, and ultimate fate of shells). This review generates suggestions for minimizing GHG emissions. This review helps assessing the current state of research and identifying research directions for bivalve APP in slowing or even reversing climate change.
期刊介绍:
Food Security is a wide audience, interdisciplinary, international journal dedicated to the procurement, access (economic and physical), and quality of food, in all its dimensions. Scales range from the individual to communities, and to the world food system. We strive to publish high-quality scientific articles, where quality includes, but is not limited to, the quality and clarity of text, and the validity of methods and approaches.
Food Security is the initiative of a distinguished international group of scientists from different disciplines who hold a deep concern for the challenge of global food security, together with a vision of the power of shared knowledge as a means of meeting that challenge. To address the challenge of global food security, the journal seeks to address the constraints - physical, biological and socio-economic - which not only limit food production but also the ability of people to access a healthy diet.
From this perspective, the journal covers the following areas:
Global food needs: the mismatch between population and the ability to provide adequate nutrition
Global food potential and global food production
Natural constraints to satisfying global food needs:
§ Climate, climate variability, and climate change
§ Desertification and flooding
§ Natural disasters
§ Soils, soil quality and threats to soils, edaphic and other abiotic constraints to production
§ Biotic constraints to production, pathogens, pests, and weeds in their effects on sustainable production
The sociological contexts of food production, access, quality, and consumption.
Nutrition, food quality and food safety.
Socio-political factors that impinge on the ability to satisfy global food needs:
§ Land, agricultural and food policy
§ International relations and trade
§ Access to food
§ Financial policy
§ Wars and ethnic unrest
Research policies and priorities to ensure food security in its various dimensions.